Last night we saw the Silver Jews at Webster Hall. Plenty of people seemed plenty excited. Lots of exciting happenings, like Steve West taping down the setlists and Bob N. playing drums on two songs.
The quality of the performance was pretty much what I expected. The band was pretty good, the vocals weren't great. DCB was both shy and proud to be in the middle of the stage, holding his guitar like a comfort blanket. At times he moved around the stage in the manner of a more benevolent Count Olaf as depicted in the Lemony Snicket movie. Oversized and awkward, but somewhat mesmerizing. A contact lens issue became a perhaps unintentional theatrical experience, as Mr. Berman appeared quite pained.
The setlist was a pretty good mix of new and old. I don't think there were any covers as there were at other shows so far. There were a bunch I would have liked to have heard, but I guess they are planning to tour regularly after this tour. The lyric stand seemed to work out ok. It would be nice if Tony Crow had a real piano to play, but that is hard to work out, I imagine. I also wonder how well DCB's vocals will hold up over a few weeks of touring. Cassie didn't sound as good as on record, but that's not shocking either.
It occurs to me that if DCB could sing a bit better and S Joos had just a bit more media presence that "Punks in the Beerlight" could be their "Float On."
It seemed like most people enjoyed the show. It wasn't too long (although shows like this tend to seem short. People with loads of songs who don't play them all leave people wanting more. This reminds me of MT Goats, who always seem like short sets.) A (second) encore was pretty much demanded, and the band complied. The Webster Hall people usually do a pretty good job of chasing people out, but not last night. They didn't quite get the obnoxious lights/music combination right, so it went dark and quiet again for a last song.
a couple related articles:
BostonHerald.com - Music News & Reviews: Silver lining: Dark times lead to indie fave’s first tour
The Jewish Exponent - Philadelphia, PA
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1 comment:
I got the sense that, were he a librarian, asked to do a booktalk, david berman might use many post-it notes.
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